Last Sunday, Austrians were voting for the second time to elect their president. The past elections, in May, had been annulled by the constitutional court following irregularities in the counting procedure in several constituencies. Alexander Van der Bellen, a Green politician who ran as an independent, had then won the elections with a very small… » read more

Today, the Hungarian Parliament voted against a draft amendment to the constitution submitted by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. For him, the amendment was needed to honor the country’s referendum result. Orbán had submitted the amendment after the failure of his referendum on the 2nd of October. This referendum opposed the European Union refugees resettlement scheme,… » read more

British and French officials had promised that the demolition of the jungle would not begin before all children in the camp were safeguarded. Yet, while the French government announced the evacuation of the camp over, charities and campaigners have been saying that there are still many unregistered minors wondering around the camp, hoping that the… » read more

Obergrenze. It’s the word of the moment in Germany – namely should Germany set an upper limit on the number of refugees that it can take in 2016. CSU leader Seehofer wants to set it at 200000. The Austrians have agreed one (but there are questions if it can work), and CSU General Secretary says… » read more

Charlie Hebdo has everyone up in arms with their latest cartoon. People have variously said they are enraged, that it is racist, that it is disgusting. For me it most definitely is not funny, but it encompasses such complicated contradictions in one image, in such a painful way, that I see it as masterful provocation.… » read more

Refugees stream from Serbia into Hungary. So Orbán puts up a border fence. But then Serbia struggles to cope with the refugees on its side, and many continue to find ways to cross anyway. Refugees don’t want to stay in Hungary however as they fear Orbán’s government will not treat them well. Austria, the next… » read more

European soft-power is the source of it’s influence in the world. Combined with it’s member states, the EU provides a considerable share of the global humanitarian aid: about 50% in 2009. Traditionally, it’s human rights record, though not spotless, has been one of the best in the world. European soft-power stems from it’s quality products,… » read more

This is a guest blog post by Olaf Böhnke, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), and Darius Reinhardt, a Berlin-based researcher who focuses on EU affairs and the Middle East. Reports about the innumerable numbers of drowned refugees in the Mediterranean Sea have become a permanent part of our… » read more